ActivityWatch vs Hikage
ActivityWatch
activitywatch.netHikage
hikage.appSide by side
| Figure | ActivityWatch | Hikage |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $4.17/mo | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 4 | 2 |
| Spec score · Screen Time Management Apps | 8.6 (#3) | 8.1 (#11) |
| Purpose | ActivityWatch automatically tracks how users spend time on their devices, including applications and websites. | Hikage records app and website activity locally so users can review their usage timeline. |
| Support | The project offers community discussion through its forum and Discord server, and says development is volunteer-built and may slow at times. | Hikage provides support through [email protected] for problems, feature suggestions, purchases, activation, and other feedback. |
Plans
ActivityWatch
- Personal$5 a month
- Business$20 a month
- Personal yearly$50 a year
- Believer$450, paid once
In their own words
ActivityWatch
ActivityWatch has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
Hikage
Hikage is a macOS app that records app and website activity locally so users can review a usage timeline. It tracks app switches in the background and estimates screen time using keyboard and mouse activity, playback status, and sleep state. Statistics include daily and monthly views, per-app figures, sunburst and treemap displays, and an app-stream view. A relationship graph combines app switch counts with each app’s share of switches. Users can create categories and subcategories, merge or exclude items, and customize statistics layouts. For supported browsers, Hikage normally saves the hostname, browser identity, time, and private-browsing status rather than full URLs. It does not record typed text, keystrokes, pointer coordinates, clipboard contents, window titles, screen images, or media titles. With permission, it can generate calendar event candidates from activity records and add them to Apple Calendar. The free plan includes local recording, export, iCloud Backup, and daily and per-app statistics. A one-time Personal Perpetual License costs 9.00 USD and includes all features, future updates, and activation on two Macs. It is intended for personal activity review, not attendance, billing, medical, safety, or evidence use.